(left to right) This is that exception, a nod to dozens of Saturday morning B western heroes. For my rainy-day trail rides these four are the saddle pals of choice. Athletic, handsome Rogers and easy-going guy next door Autry lead the singing cowboys. Fatherly Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy) and boyish Holt stand tall for the straight (non-singing) shooters.

He’s starred in only four westerns, two of them mini-series, but he and Kevin Costner are the only ones who still seem interested in the genre. Duvall exudes authentic western grit. Before Lonesome Dove, Geronimo, Open Range and Broken Trail, he was a creepy baddie in True Grit, above.

9. Robert Duvall: He’s starred in only four westerns, two of... Photo-1354477.22384 - Houston Chronicle

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8. Gregory Peck:

If you only think of Peck as the solid, decent type, catch him as a young hellion in the eccentric Duel in the Sun (1946), above, with Joseph Cotton, or an outlaw in Yellow Sky. He’s excellent and tough in The Bravados, The Stalking Moon and the classic if rather static The Gunfighter.

8. Gregory Peck: If you only think of Peck as the solid, decent... Photo-1354478.22384 - Houston Chronicle

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7. Henry Fonda:

Ramrod straight Fonda’s westerners were all different, from the charmingly good Wyatt Earp of the classic My Darling Clementine to steely, evil Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West, above. In the underrated minor gem Warlock, he’s a gunslick with a badge and a personal code. He’s the conscious of a mob in The Ox-Bow Incident, and a brave but foolish martinet in Fort Apache.

Lancaster did a dozen good westerns. His masculine athleticism and keen intelligence made his characters earthy but sharp. He’s Wyatt Earp in Gunfight at the OK Corral, and a cool mercenary in The Professionals, above. Don’t miss three he did in a row in 1971-72, Lawman, Valdez is Coming, Ulzana’s Raid.

Ranch-raised Cooper was ideal for westerns — The Virginian made him a star in 1929 — but did surprisingly few. Most were just average but he made them intriquing. He got the Oscar for the fretting sheriff in talk-laden High Noon, hardly his most heroic role. His best cowboy pictures include The Westerner, above, Man of the West, Along Came Jones.

Tall, lean and roughly handsome, Scott was an ideal cowboy in about 60 mostly mediocre westerns, but he saved the best for last. In his late 50s he fought through several low-budget gems for director Budd Boetticher such as Ride Lonesome (with James Best, right), then rode into the sunset grandly, at age 64, in Sam Peckinpah’s Ride the High Country.

11 years after the comic Destry Rides Again (1939), soft-spoken Stewart, well into his 40s, started a series of tough-guy westerns, mainly for director Anthony Mann (Winchester '73, above). He turned out to be surprisingly suited to it and it transformed his image. He eventually did more than a dozen solid, distinctive westerns.

The last western superstar, though most of his films and characters contradicted classic western ideals. Terrific in action scenes, straight in the saddle, with the hardest killer stare in the West. He kept the genre going when no one else could.

2. Clint Eastwood: The last western superstar, though most of his... Photo-1354484.22384 - Houston Chronicle

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1. John Wayne:

Number one on any movie cowboy list. From his early B movies to his last film, The Shootist, 45 years later, he had more westerns — and more great westerns — than any other star. He looked and sounded like we wanted a cowboy hero to, especially in his early years before he had to loosen his gunbelt. He got the Oscar for True Grit, but was good in most westerns and outstanding in several. He's shown here in The Searchers.